Proper 7

Preparation

Please begin by reading Matthew 10:24-39 in your Bible. If you do not have one at hand, we have provided the text for you at the end of this reflection.

Reflection--Shout It From the Housetops Anyhow

Here, Jesus lets us know that while we have a story to tell, we should not be surprised when the telling brings opposition. Jesus warns us that if we live our lives in the imitation of Jesus, as we are called to do, we are bound to get “bad press” (or worse). Jesus says that he himself, “the master of the house,” has been called “Beelzebul” (a sarcastic title meaning “lord of the dung” the people of Israel used to refer to a Philistine god).  Jesus warns us that if people of his day (including many religious leaders) referred to Jesus in this way, how can we, the people of his household, expect better!

Jesus goes on to encourage us, though. He suggests that what the opponents of Jesus continue to do will be revealed for what it is in time, just as what we do in faithfulness will eventually speak for itself. We members of Jesus’ household have a story to tell that is so important that it is worth shouting from the housetops! It is a story worth telling even though the telling may bring opposition and strife—even strife within our family and in our own households.

The good news is that when we repeat in public the good things that Jesus has done for us in the private spaces of our life, the One who is ultimately the most important will not abandon us. He will claim us as his own before God!

We can see Jesus' warning of trouble on the journey play out in all kinds of ways.  After a workshop on racial equality issues I attended several years ago, one of the leaders—an African American—told me privately how bone weary she had become of educating others. She was angry about having to tell her story over and over again when she met yet another new person who still did not get it—the story of how she was no less a child of God and no less valuable than someone of another race and her story of the corrosive effects of prejudice and bigotry.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians of all races and their friends know that feeling too! First, it may be hard to come to terms with accepting and loving ourselves as God intends. Once we have done that, it can be hard to work through the anger that sometimes comes with the recognition of the lies and half-truths others tell about our place in God's family that weighed down our souls for years until we claimed our rightful place at God's throne.

When we finally work through those things, we are often bone weary.  The temptation is to just disengage and rest in God's arms.  But our call is to keep on shouting from the housetops the news of the joy of our restored relationship with Jesus, even if we are faced with opposition by those who claim to know Jesus, but whose words and actions are far from the Jesus we have come to love.

Retreating is to lose life.  Keeping on spreading the good news is finding life; not only life for ourselves but for others.  Quietly watching and listening are our brothers and sisters who still need to make the discovery of God's great love for them, the same discovery that brought our joy. Ultimately, our faithfulness leads us and others to that final resting place in the loving arms of God who knows our true selves perfectly, even to the number of hairs on our heads. 

Yes, Jesus warns us that the journey is difficult, ah but the rewards when we and those we encounter along the road find our way home.

revclay

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Matthew 10:24-39

[Jesus said:] “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.

"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your God. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”  [NRSV]